Stories are piling up of American citizens and those otherwise legally in the United States being arrested or detained by federal agents carrying out warrantless raids.
Americans being stopped, brutalized, and detained by federal agents have become known as the "Kavanaugh Stop," wrote legal analysts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern for Slate. The name comes from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote in a ruling that American citizens were not being swept up in the federal raids.
"The Government sometimes makes brief investigative stops to check the immigration status of those who gather in locations where people are hired for day jobs; who work or appear to work in jobs such as construction, landscaping, agriculture, or car washes that often do not require paperwork and are therefore attractive to illegal immigrants; and who do not speak much if any English," wrote Kavanaugh in a September order. "If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go."
Over and over, that has proven not to be the case, argued "Popular Info" reporter Judd Legum in a Monday piece.
One such incident happened last week when hundreds of federal agents descended upon an apartment building in Chicago, detaining and handcuffing people inside, including children. Over and over, American citizens tried to tell agents who they were, but were ignored. The ACLU of Illinois revealed in an interview with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace that one man asked to see the warrant granted for the raid and demanded a lawyer. He received neither.
It's unclear whether a warrant was even obtained, wrote Legum, noting that feds haven't responded to requests to view one.
"By ignoring legal requirements designed to protect civil liberties, the operation ensnared numerous American citizens who live in the building," said Legum in his report.
Legum went through numerous examples of Americans being detained.
A 25-year-old Army veteran was detained on his way to his security guard job. He had identification in his car, he insisted. Still, he was held for three days and nights.
Lego Garcia Venegas showed federal agents his REAL ID, but federal agents claimed it was false and, after tackling him, kept him "tightly handcuffed for an hour." He was attacked again a month later and again showed his REAL ID. Again, agents dismissed it as fake.
"Venegas' repeated detentions are the result of [Homeland Security] conducting warrantless searches and then detaining people based on their racial profile," wrote Legum.
Andrea Velez, another American citizen, was "knocked ot the ground by an ICE officer, and despite declaring her citizenship, was detained and led to a car." She was terrified she was being kidnapped and spent two days in jail. They then tried to charge her with obstructing an officer, but ultimately, the Justice Department dropped the charges.
Legum listed more and more Americans who fly in the face of Kavanaugh's claims that if a person is a "U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go."